Philly Future

September 01, 2005

Places to Donate Funds

Screw all the squabbling of who will or will not end up raising more funds, the right or the left, just donate what you can wherever you feel it will do the most good, where you feel most comfortable or wherever your friend told you to. On the right pane, I've made an initial list of places to donate funds compiled from this post on Whiskey Bar.

If you have $5 to spare, spare it. If you're going to the grocery store today, buy a little less if you can and donate $5 to someplace sending help to the Gulf Coast. If you're a smoker, how about giving up your $5/day or more habit for the time being and sending that money to a charity. That's as good a reason as any - besides your own health and mine and those around you - to quit.

If anyone else would like to display a list like this, the basic .txt file is here and you should be able to cut and paste it into a list on your own blog.

I'm gonna build on this initial list of a dozen charities in the coming hours, days...

Spare what you can, this will effect all of us in one way or another if it hasn't already.

If you can only spare $10, that’s $10 the Red Cross didn't have before you donated it. $10 buys a roll of gauze, or some sterile needles, or a meal, or who knows what else. Get to work.

But if you're like Melissa over at Rowhouse Logic and don't feel completely comfortable donating funds, you can also make a trip down there in the future. The entire area will be rebuilding for the next many years to come.

Comments

Albert,

What the sodding hell is going on? I've just seen your President on Good Morning America pretty much saying that private property was more important than staying alive, juxtaposed with a woman screaming about a baby dying in the convention centre because there is no food, no milk and no water...

Thanks for the link. I hope I don't sound like a jerk. I'm not particularly suspicious of the charities or anything, but I just feel like more help may be needed down the road. I'll probably end up giving to the Humane Society, but I'm really drawn to the idea of volunteering.

Keep in mind that in huge and unmanaged disasters like this, untrained volunteers can be in the way more than helpful. At some later point, it will take tons of manpower to clear the debris and help people rebuild, but right now the acute need is for organizations who know what they're doing to get basic supplies to thousands of stranded refugees before it's too late. For that effort, every dollar today is critical.